In Rocky, Creed manages to essentially clean-out his division of serious challengers and magnanimously decides to fight rookie contender Rocky Balboa for the fan spectacle. In said film and its sequel, Balboa and Creed find themselves basically evenly matched in the ring; ending up friends by the third movie. Creed had multiple nicknames, including most prominently "The Master of Disaster".[2] Others include "The King of Sting", "The Dancing Destroyer", "The Prince of Punch", and "The Count of Monte Fisto". A 2013 poll of former heavyweight champions and boxing writers, including former WBA heavyweight star James "Bonecrusher" Smith, ranked Creed as the second best boxer in the entire Rocky series.[1] All of Apollo's championship fights were scheduled for the 15 round distance. Championship fights did not convert from 15 rounds to 12 rounds until 1987.

Contents

Apollo Creed first appeared in the 1976Oscar-winning film Rocky as the charismatic, intelligent and undefeated 33-year-old World Heavyweight Champion. A planned Bicentennial fight against number one contender Mac Lee Green was scheduled for January 1, 1976, which Apollo gladly hypes whenever someone places a microphone in front of him. However, Green hurts his left hand in training, and when none of the other top ranked contenders, such as Joe Czak and Buddy Shaw, step up to face the champion, Creed responds with a promotion that will generate huge publicity. He will offer an unknown local fighter an opportunity to battle Creed for the title, in a match in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Upon reviewing the local boxers in Philadelphia, Creed is drawn to a club fighter named Rocky Balboa because Balboa is Italian and has a catchy nickname, "The Italian Stallion". Apollo also explains his choice by saying: "Who discovered America? An Italian, right? What better way to celebrate its 200th birthday than to get it on with one of his descendants?" Apollo brushes off the idea of the left-handed Balboa giving him a fight, pledging to knock him out in three rounds. In spite of his trainer's concern when he sees Balboa in a television interview, training by punching sides of beef in a meat packing plant, Apollo puts more effort into giving everyone a good show rather than training for the bout. When the match actually takes place, Apollo dresses up like both George Washington and Uncle Sam in the pre-fight festivities (with his matching trademark "stars and stripes" boxing shorts) is in a jovial mood until Rocky knocks him down in the first round with a single uppercut, the first time Creed has ever been knocked down in his career. He then endures a gruelling 15-round fight with the game Balboa, who manages to get to his feet after Creed takes him down with an uppercut in the 14th round in what appears to be the end of the match. This was the first time anyone had ever taken the champion the full 15 rounds.

Both fighters are beaten, bloodied, and bruised by the end of the bout - Rocky with severe eye damage and Apollo with internal bleeding. Apollo gains a controversial split decision victory, and neither fighter wants a rematch, at least for that very moment...

In the second film, Creed immediately demands a rematch in the hospital ER after the fight. In fact, he challenges Rocky to finish the fight right there. Creed's desire for a rematch with Balboa intensifies when it becomes clear that the prevailing public opinion is that Creed had either gotten lucky, or the judges were fixed in his favour. Eager to change minds and ignoring the pleas of his staff to avoid facing him again, Creed challenges Balboa to a second fight on Thanksgiving Day, 1976. He uses various humiliation tactics to coax Balboa out of retirement. Rocky had married his girlfriend Adrian after getting out of the hospital from the first fight. Creed insists at the press conference that he would "drop him like a bad habit" and tells Rocky when he leaves "Come November, you're mine!" In a press interview during training, he also insists that Rocky "cannot last five minutes in the ring with a superior athlete like me!" Creed plows through sparring partners and trains harder than ever before, with the intention of punishing Balboa for the embarrassment eleven months earlier. Mickey trains Rocky to become faster by chasing and catching a chicken.

Unlike their first fight, Creed dominates Balboa throughout the second fight, managing to thwart Rocky's strategy of fighting right-handed. Despite this, he is unable to make good on his promise of an early knockout victory, as Rocky absorbs his punches. By the final round, he is well ahead on points; however, he also endures a substantial beating in later rounds, when it becomes apparent he cannot knock Balboa out, and Balboa begins landing his own punches on the tiring Creed. Not wanting a repeat of the first fight (and ignoring the pleas of his trainers), he vows to knock Balboa out rather than taking the safer route by winning on points. At the beginning of the 15th round he tells Rocky, "You're going down", to which Rocky replied, "No way". After going toe-to-toe for much of the final round, Creed is knocked down by a left from Balboa, with Balboa falling down in exhaustion as well. Rocky is able to get up by the count of 9, but Creed is unable to pull himself up and is counted out, losing the match and the championship by knockout, his first professional loss.

Apollo retires from boxing soon after. Even though he has lost, he gains his respect from the crowd back since it feels that he fought and lost in a fair fight. The fight also results in Creed finally acknowledging Balboa's ability as a fighter, rather than seeing him as a fluke.

In the third film, Apollo (38 years old) appears at the first fight between James "Clubber" Lang, 23 years old, and Rocky Balboa, 34 years old, as a guest analyst, a match in which Lang defeats Rocky by KO in the second round. Before the match, the former champion Creed steps into the ring to greet the fighters. When he steps up to Lang, the latter slaps away Creed's hand and mockingly and rudely insists that he "don't want no has-been in my corner". He further says, "You want to jump, Creed? Jump." When Creed walks away stunned at this rude display from the belligerent challenger, Lang laughs at him and calls him a "chicken". Following the match, Rocky's beloved manager Mickey dies. Determined in part to put the disrespectful brute in his place, Creed finds Rocky at Mickey's gym and they agree to have Apollo take over as Balboa’s manager. The pair travels to the 'Tough Gym' in Los Angeles, California where Creed used to train in preparation for a rematch with Balboa. Creed encourages Rocky not to ignore the naysayers that say he is too old, but instead refocus himself. During this talk he states, "Now when we fought.. you had that eye of the tiger." This quote is referred to throughout the movie, including the film's theme song, "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor. Creed mentions that Rocky will owe him "a big favor" once he wins, which he does not specify at first. Rocky's training is geared toward making him quicker and more agile, to counter the larger, stronger brawler. Apollo teaches Rocky how to fight like Apollo Creed. Rocky has trouble concentrating during his training, suffering from guilt over Mickey's demise and self-doubt. Adrian helps Rocky recognize this as a simple fear of losing again and convinces him that he can't let fear control his life and that he has to fight again, not to prove a point, but to live without fear. Rocky agrees and begins to put his fear aside. Creed helps Rocky rediscover the fire inside, which he had lost in the time leading up to the Lang fight, that had won him the title. Creed calls this fire the "eye of the tiger".

Before the match begins, Creed expresses his confidence that Rocky will win. He gives Rocky his signature "colors" (Apollo's stars and stripes boxing trunks) to wear during the fight (and tells him to wash them afterwards). Re-energized with Creed shadow-boxing in his corner, Rocky regains his title with a three-round knockout of Lang. After his victory, Creed reveals his favor - a third fight with Rocky (not as a bloody fight between bitter rivals, but as a sparring match between friends). Rocky happily accepts the challenge. The film ends showing each boxer hitting the other at the same time, symbolizing the equality of their greatness.

In 1985, Apollo (42 years old), comes out of a five-year retirement to fight mammoth Soviet Olympic boxer Ivan Drago, who had come to the United States on behalf of the Soviet Union to enter the world of professional boxing. Not wanting the Soviets to appear superior to American fighters, the patriotic Apollo challenges Drago to an exhibition match, and calls out Drago at the press conference that sets up their exhibition bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 31, 1985.

Highlighted by a pre-match rendition of "Living in America" by James Brown, Apollo enters the arena from a descending scaffold overhead, dancing to the music in his old red, white, and blue Uncle Sam outfit. With Rocky, Duke and Paulie in his corner, Apollo was overly confident that he could dispense of Drago with ease. However, Apollo was not ready for the extreme size and strength of the Russian. After taunting the Russian and landing a number of ineffectual punches, Creed was pummeled badly in the first round. Rocky wanted to stop the fight but Apollo refused. Apollo told Rocky not to stop the fight "no matter what...no matter what!"

By the start of the second round, Drago continued to pummel Creed with ease. Rocky again tried to stop the fight by throwing in the towel. Apollo told Rocky not to stop the fight, giving Drago a chance to deliver a blow (as Rocky dropped the towel causing the fight to stop) that unfortunately killed Apollo, who died in Rocky's arms in the middle of the ring. Drago won by a technical knockout.

Rocky then sets out to avenge Apollo's death by beating Drago in the Soviet Union, with the Soviet premier and the Politburo looking on. He succeeds as the film ends with Rocky Balboa winning the fight by knockout in the last round.

With his character's death, Carl Weathers departed the franchise after Rocky IV. In Rocky V, the fifth installment of the series, after Rocky Balboa defeated Ivan Drago, Apollo's trainer Duke congratulated Rocky by showing that he made everyone proud, especially for Apollo by holding up his red, white, and blue trunks. Apollo was thereafter only mentioned briefly in past tenses, including a flashback scene between Mickey and Rocky before Balboa's first fight with Creed where Mickey states "Apollo won't know what hit him". Rocky's pupil Tommy Gunn also claimed to have been a fan of Rocky since his first fight with Apollo, Tommy was eventually allowed to wear Creed's trunks. During Tommy's fight with Union Cane, Rocky commented that it was like his own first fight with Apollo. Later during Rocky's street fight with Tommy, he began to hallucinate and saw images of Apollo's death at the hands of Drago, believing that he was about to suffer the same fate. However a vision of Mickey telling him to get up, gave Rocky the strength to win the street fight.

In the 6th installment of the Rocky franchise, Rocky is seen paying tribute to Apollo by telling customers at his restaurant stories about his friendship and fights with him. During the commentary before the Rocky vs Mason Dixon fight, a montage of Rocky's opponents was shown which included his two fights against Apollo.

In the film series, Creed is known as one of the world's best fighters, possessing a combination of both great speed and great strength. His powerful jab and emphasis on agility complimented his flashy personality and outfit. In terms of weaknesses, his only major drawback appears to his deep sense of pride and strong self-confidence, which allows Rocky to ultimately get somewhat of an edge over him in the ring from surprising Creed.

Because the original film was released in 1976 during the reign of Muhammad Ali, and with Ali being considered the quintessential American boxer by having defeated some of the best of the time, Creed was heavily based on him. However, his public image is more in the vein of Sugar Ray Leonard or Joe Louis given that Creed avoided politics.

Like Ali, Apollo was an outside fighter, relying on his speed and power to get through fights. His jab-cross-hook combination were his mainstay, and, also like Ali, Creed's defense was heavily contingent upon his speed. Apollo used Ali's "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" philosophy, being able to bob and weave and frustrate his opponents. A notable difference was that though Creed had Ali's unorthodox hand positioning, he ducked, bobbed and weaved in the classic style, as opposed to Ali who preferred to move backwards, in contradiction to boxing's basic tenets, but with success. Perhaps the reason for this was that only Ali could be that unorthodox and look convincing; where most boxing instructors would tell you that you can't land a punch when you're retreating backwards, Ali did that too with regularity. Also unlike Ali, Apollo wasn't very political and had very little to say on social issues. In Rocky I a reporter asked him if it mattered to him that he was fighting a white man on the most celebrated day in our country's history; to which Apollo replied, "About as much as it matters to him that he's fighting a black man on the most celebrated day in our country's history."

Like Ali, Creed was susceptible to taking a lot of damage during fights because of the level at which he held his hands, a fact which ultimately proved to be his undoing. By the second film, his fancy wind up and punch with the other fist looked like it came from Sugar Ray Leonard.